Zelter-Plakette

The Zelter-Plakette (Zelter Plaque) is a German national award for choirs, founded in 1956 by President Theodor Heuss.

[2] The opening words of the decree of 7 August 1956 translate to: "In recognition of choral societies that have acquired many years of work in special services to the care of choral music and German folk song and therefore the promotion of cultural life, I found the Zelter-Plakette.

It shows on its face a portrait of Carl Friedrich Zelter, the director of the first choral society Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, and on the back has a German eagle with the inscription "Für Verdienste um Chorgesang und Volkslied" (For merits in choral singing and folk song).

The plaque is traditionally awarded on Laetare Sunday, three weeks before Easter in a national ceremony.

[3][4] According to the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Chorverbände, 9.755 plaques were awarded from 1957 to 2002, 60 of them to foreign choirs.